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O.K., so this is a commercial.

I just happen to believe the subject is worth giving a little space on this web site, even if the audience is limited.

What I’m talking about is the EDUCATION SUMMIT that will be held here this Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 9 & 10. As you may already know, or suspect, the stated purpose of the Summit is to draw people together to chart a course on improving education. To be honest, I’d say that an even more important purpose is to find out HOW IMPORTANT how many people think education is or should be for our future. If you don’t think the best education is important for our community, or don’t care, you can stop reading right now.

You know, everybody tends to think wherever they live is top of the line (except teenagers, who always think wherever they live is the pitts). So to get any kind of accurate appraisal of any location you really have to bring in somebody from outside. That’s exactly what those planning the Education Summit are doing. Believe me, I am not blowing smoke when I say that the two headline speakers are among the best in the country. They are not only among the best nationally, they are the best for our community. Let me explain, briefly.

The kickoff speaker, at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday evening at Earlham College’s Goddard auditorium is Suzanne Morse, president and founder of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change that provides solutions for community problems in actual case studies and projects all over the country. She is the author of the newly-published book, Smart Communities: How Citizens and Local Leaders Can Build a Brighter Future. It would be worth paying a sizable fee to hear this person, but her talk at Earlham is free and everyone is invited to attend. The other “outside” speaker is Aims McGuinness, who is really not so outside. As senior associate of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, Aims was here five years ago analyzing our educational system, and has been asked to return to tell us what has changed since then. Aims is a very down-to-earth guy, yet he and his non-profit organization advise educational groups all over the world. We are lucky that he has found time to bring his expertise back here for this occasion. He will give direction to and evaluate the break-out sessions that will be held at I.U. East and Ivy Tech from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday.

How have we been able to bring these top-flight speakers to Richmond, Indiana? Well, frankly, it takes money, and it’s been made possible by the Wayne County Foundation, which has made Education its first priority for this year. (That’s your charitable dollars at work.) Taking the lead in organizing the Summit has been the Wayne County Learning Corporation, a new “umbrella” organization recommended by McGuinness when he was here five years ago.

This could be the beginning of a whole new direction in moving more strongly toward ways of improving and promoting education here. As mentioned above, if you are someone who thinks better education could make the difference in our community’s future, show you believe by taking part. You are bound to learn something from these expert visitors, and you might be the one to come up with some winning ideas.

–Vic Jose

To read the “Introduction” and all other articles appearing on this page, click “Archives.”

Vic Jose :: Oct.05.2007 :: Uncategorized ::

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